Make a flashlight:
I found this pretty cool flashlight diy video and tried to adapt it to my needs…
I made my flashlight with one light to save space withing the body of the light and to save on voltage for my led.
I first had to learn how to solder, which was sort of a trick. But I made the contact leads too long on the light string which gave me problems later. I also changed the type of switch to a tiny toggle switch that is only on while depressed, to mimic a little thumb light I used to have and still miss. This change, however minor, was going to end up being a tricky situation to contend with as well.
The switch I used was really small so there was not much to solder to once the leads were put through the end cap of the light. Moon, (a resident), gave me some advice about working with such a small connection which turned out to be very useful indeed. The result of the long leads coming from the LED was to unpin the leads from the battery every time I attempted to close the light, but with a little tinkering and a lot of patience I was able to get it closed with the light working.
I really found out some of the strengths and weaknesses of the fabrication lab in this project. Buy your own tools if at all possible, and keep a good stock of your own tools in a sizable toolbox. Don’t count on something being there for use even if the shop usually has it. Buy your own supplies if at all possible, and keep those supplies in your own toolbox. Anyway, here are some photos of the materials and the process.
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- Supplies. I ended up changing the switch to a very small push button toggle.
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- Soldered the leads to the LED too long
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- light works
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- Hot glue to hold the delicate soldering of the little switch
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- Let there be light!
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- Profile view complete
Good work. I like the look of this flashlight. We spoke about what a pain those little buttons can be in class. Panel mount switches/buttons would probably make this project a bit easier.